Where Islam spreads, freedom dies

Warsi, 40, whose father arrived in Britain from Pakistan in 1960, will address a meeting of OIC foreign ministers next week in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

What a disgrace. We are now effectively part of the OIC. The OIC has a very disturbing track record of anti-semitism and calling for censorship of any criticism of Islam, among other things. Read more about the OIC's background here. A British government should not be endorsing it by participating in it. Thanks to Warsi's influence, it seems we now have a permanent representative to the OIC.

Warsi travels to Astana after she met Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the OIC, during a visit to its secretariat in Jeddah last year while she was in Saudi Arabia for the hajj. This led to the appointment of Britain's first special representative to the 57-strong group. "This is an organisation which is good to engage with and have much deeper engagement with but clearly that relationship didn't appear to be there twelve months ago," Warsi said.

Ihsanoglu recently raised concerns about Islamophobia with Warsi, who caused some controversy in January by saying this had "crossed the threshold of middle-class respectability". They had both agreed that Britain has a better track record than other European countries.

Oh well done, British government. You get a pat on the head from the OIC. You've kept those frothing islamophobes down. Great job on arresting the Koran burners.

Warsi goes on to claim, ludicrously, although less ludicrously with each passing year, that Britain embodies Islamic values.

Warsi said she had also raised concerns about the treatment of minorities in Pakistan. Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's only Christian minister, was shot dead in March after he called for the reform of blasphemy laws that impose the death sentence for insulting Islam.

Warsi said: "I said to them ... let me talk to you about the rights of minorities, the protection of women and the concept of meritocracy. I gave real examples of how Islam embodies all of those values, and the question I put was: my country wasn't formed in the name of Islam, but yours was; so why does my country embody the values of the faith that your country was formed on the basis of?"

Of course this claim is preposterous in many respects, not the least of which is her reference to Britain as 'my country'.

It seems Warsi has been making a lot of trips of this type. Am I the only one who wonders why she's doing this? Isn't she supposed to be the chairwoman of the Conservative party? What the hell does being the chairwoman of the Conservative party have to do with all this diplomatic activity?

Since appointment to the cabinet Warsi has visited Muslim countries, including Kuwait and Pakistan on four occasions. She played an important role in smoothing relations with Pakistan after David Cameron caused great offence last July when he said in India that elements of the Pakistan state were guilty of exporting terrorism.

"I don't believe in this clash of civilisations, where there is the west and the Muslim world," she said. "I mean, if I did, where would I fit in?"

Good question, dear, the answer to which stares remorselessly into your chubby and repulsive face.